A collection of winter solstice traditions from Terri Windling:
Our Solstice decorations are up, and tonight I'll make a second batch of kiffles: the Christmas cookies passed on through generations of women in my mother's Pennsylvania Dutch family...carried now to England and passed on to our daughter, who may one day pass it to children of her own.

Gabrielle Roth's 5Rhythms system focuses on five different emotions or feelings - one of the early forms of dance meditation like this. There are books, and you can find tracks on Spotify (and other online music tools), and videos on YouTube.

One of the most potent ideas in magic and ritual is creating what we want to have happen in our minds, so that we can focus and direct our energy into making it happen. (This is just as true when we’re talking about practical goals as magical ones, of course.) Meditation and visualisation are two very common tools to help with this.

A dowsing pendulum is typically a rock or crystal that hangs on the end of a string or chain. The pendulum is used as a way of gaining spiritual and material insight. Traditionally, dowsing pendulums were used to locate hidden water, minerals, and other hidden objects beneath the ground.

The use of a pendulum is, in theory, extremely simple. At its most basic, all you have to do is hold it up and see what pattern of swinging it adopts. You can use it on its own, just by noting the way it swings, or with other tools like spirit boards or tarot cards.

There is actually a long history of folk magic traditions working with sugar, honey, maple syrup, molasses, simple syrup, and other sweeteners to promote love, kindness, joy, harmony, good will, and favored status. The theory is simple enough and a great example of sympathetic and contagious magic: because the primary medium (a sweetener of some kind) is used in a directed manner towards a specific person the intention is that said person will become “sweeter,” more kind, tender, loving, and harmonious.

We can learn a lot from our actual experiences, if only we can listen and look…and be patient. Someone who really pays attention to actual experience begins to live more and more by a single rule: expect the unexpected.

All too often we sacred artists think of banishing external funk and negativity — vibes that are just hanging out around us and need to be cleaned out. That is not wrong or bad but it is incomplete. The next time you banish ask yourself: what inner states do I need to let go of too?

We know that life and death are in an eternal dance with each other, we know that rabbits are ancient creatures long honored not only for fertility and gentleness but also for their ability to guide the dead in the underworld and turn into magical women running free under the full moon.

This is the stuff of hope and there is nothing passive, fragile, or boring about it. Don’t give it up. Instead, call your deepest strength back and restore it.

Now many of us are taught that Winter Solstice celebrates the return of the light and yes, this is true. But/and Winter Solstice is also the longest night of the year in many places, the night of deepest and most complete darkness.

There are so many ways that we can embrace our transitions and the lessons that come from them within our practices. While this is not an exhaustive list by any means, here are some ideas to hopefully ignite more ideas for others.

One magical theory is that it is easier to reach out and affect (change) the world if we use something that is connected to what we’re trying to do. We can’t reach out directly and touch everyone who might give us money, for example – but if there’s a herb, or stone, or whatever that’s closely associated with that thing, we can go and do something with that, instead.

People sometimes wonder where the names come from. It’s quite common for people in the Pagan community to pick a different name from the one their parents gave them for a variety of reasons. Some of these include privacy, values around the power of names and words, names as a magical tool, and more.

A fascinating deck bringing together disparate symbologies, from Benebell Wen.

My ambition for the Spirit Keeper’s Tarot and its companion Book of Maps is to go beyond any ordinary tarot deck. First, transmitted through symbolism, the Major Arcana cards are designed to reveal to you your Holy Guardian Angel and to enable direct communion with your Angel. Through an Initiation process, you’ll gain access to a direct line and will be able to use a very precise pictorial string of keys (like a telephone number or the unique series of numbers for an IP address) to commune with your Angel.

Second, as a direct line to beneficent immortals, the deck facilitates divination where the process isn’t “what happens, happens” as it can often be when intentions are not set with precision, but rather, it’s divining by presenting your inquiries to those beneficent immortals. Finally, it’s a deck crafted to be a grimoire, enabling more efficient spirit petitions and spell-casting, and specifically, with the roster of spirits named in these cards.

No special witchy set-up, altars or supplies are needed for these practices. What is needed is a good deal of fore-thought, so as to hone in on precisely what meaning and power your actions will be impressed with. It's imprecise (and therefore, ineffective) to simply say, "World peace," or "Blue wave," or even, "End hetero-patriarchal, white supremacist capitalism."

Samhain is all sorts of things depending on what resonates most with you. For many it’s a celebration of the third and final harvest of the year. It’s also a time when many Witches seek reunion with the dead. Most Witches believe that at Samhain “the veil between the living and the dead” is at its thinest.

One of a series of posts from Briana Saussy and Sara Magnson, looking at each zodiac sign in depth - it has an overview, folklore and myths, and questions to ponder about each sign, as well as some ritual ideas.

One of a series of posts from Briana Saussy and Sara Magnson, looking at each zodiac sign in depth - it has an overview, folklore and myths, and questions to ponder about each sign, as well as some ritual ideas.

One of a series of posts from Briana Saussy and Sara Magnson, looking at each zodiac sign in depth - it has an overview, folklore and myths, and questions to ponder about each sign, as well as some ritual ideas.

One of a series of posts from Briana Saussy and Sara Magnson, looking at each zodiac sign in depth - it has an overview, folklore and myths, and questions to ponder about each sign, as well as some ritual ideas.

One of a series of posts from Briana Saussy and Sara Magnson, looking at each zodiac sign in depth - it has an overview, folklore and myths, and questions to ponder about each sign, as well as some ritual ideas.

One of a series of posts from Briana Saussy and Sara Magnson, looking at each zodiac sign in depth - it has an overview, folklore and myths, and questions to ponder about each sign, as well as some ritual ideas.

One of a series of posts from Briana Saussy and Sara Magnson, looking at each zodiac sign in depth - it has an overview, folklore and myths, and questions to ponder about each sign, as well as some ritual ideas.

One of a series of posts from Briana Saussy and Sara Magnson, looking at each zodiac sign in depth - it has an overview, folklore and myths, and questions to ponder about each sign, as well as some ritual ideas.

One of a series of posts from Briana Saussy and Sara Magnson, looking at each zodiac sign in depth - it has an overview, folklore and myths, and questions to ponder about each sign, as well as some ritual ideas.

One of a series of posts from Briana Saussy and Sara Magnson, looking at each zodiac sign in depth - it has an overview, folklore and myths, and questions to ponder about each sign, as well as some ritual ideas.

One of a series of posts from Briana Saussy and Sara Magnson, looking at each zodiac sign in depth - it has an overview, folklore and myths, and questions to ponder about each sign, as well as some ritual ideas.

One of a series of posts from Briana Saussy and Sara Magnson, looking at each zodiac sign in depth - it has an overview, folklore and myths, and questions to ponder about each sign, as well as some ritual ideas.

What’s an altar? How is it different from a shrine? If you’re confused by these and other questions, you’re definitely not alone. Here’s some help in sorting out the differences and what might be helpful practices.

From the intro: "Below are some of my favorite techniques for grounding that I've used over the years. I highly recommend them for anyone who finds themselves overwhelmed with emotions, ideas, and wanting to reconnect to their center."

My favourite overview of what's going on in astrology for the year - big picture, and a bunch of great questions. I put these into my to-do app on the relevant days, so I can read them as they come up.

From the intro "In this post we will go through the various phases of the moon, briefly look at what each of the planets will be up to in 2019, and of course I will give you pertinent retrograde dates and eclipse dates as well."

I see this question a lot on my various social media accounts. People who are new to the Tarot asking the community what is the best way to go about getting their very first Tarot deck. Which is great. The Tarot community is inclusive and really supportive.

From the intro: "Today is the first part in a series where I discuss Energetic and Psychic Protection. I was going to have this as just one post but it became rather large so I am splitting it up into two parts."

Intro says: "Now I truly believe that we are going to experience things in our lives that we can’t always avoid but if we develop and listen to our inner voice, our bodies and truly pay attention it can bring an element of the divine to our everyday lives."

Intro says: "Are there certain Tarot cards in the deck that you pray don’t show up in a Tarot Reading? Do you feel like a Tarot card is stalking you? Today I am going to share some reasons that a Tarot card may be coming up a lot for you. As with everything I share, take what resonates with you and leave the rest."

One thing you’ll find as you learn more about Paganism is that there are many different views on the nature of deity. That’s true even for people working in the same group or path: two people standing beside each other in ritual might have quite different ideas! This page talks about some of the different common approaches.

You might wonder how to deepen a relationship with a particular deity. It’s a good question, but it’s one that can have a lot of possible answers. Here are some things to think about if you’d like to deepen interactions with a particular deity.

Whether ‘deeper’ is necessarily better is a question worth a bit of time, and one I’m addressing at the end of this essay. Just so you have that to think about while you read the rest.